As promised earlier, here's a local copy of the Nocturne demo released earlier (story) and a list of mirrors. The demo weighs in at a hefty 109 MB.

3DFiles' Nocturne Demo page has word that there was a problem with the cdrom.com mirror of the Nocturne demo they posted earlier, and the link has been pulled while they fix it. Meanwhile, if you tried downloading this whopper from there and had a problem with a corrupted download, you can try resuming your download from there when it's been finished uploading, or, perhaps resuming from the working mirror they have posted. Thanks Ant (who I think is also the one who spotted the bad file). Also, I saw on Voodoo Extreme that there's a CGW Nocturne Demo FAQ up for those who've gotten the download to work, but can't get it running, but there's only one Q&A so far, saying "The most common problem is it doesn't run because hardware acceleration is turned on by default. The solution, is to turn hardware acceleration off, and run in 32bpp software rendering." Finally, to help ease all the download strain, I'll post a local copy here, with a list of mirrors I can dig up, as soon as I can.

HQH's Website has a new version 9.4 of the unofficial Half-Life FAQ, as promised, converted from a text document (the text version has been discontinued), to an HTML file, which weighs in at a whopping (for HTML) 400 KB, though there is a considerably smaller zipped version for download.

Saw on PlanetQuake News that DeathMatch 101 has posted a new Quick Guide to Quake III Test offering tips on how to come out on top of the frag heap.

I saw on Voodoo Extreme earlier that a new version 0.7.5 of the Q3A Setup tweaking utility for Q3Test was available. Unfortunately, upon downloading it I found it didn't work. Now, after checking back at the 3DApp Home, I see a version 0.7.5 beta fix is up, which actually operates, so if you're looking for a front-end to help with some of the more obscure options in Q3Test, check it out. Similarly, the tweaks at Q3Tweak say a new release of their Q3Test tweaking program will be tomorrow.

Qamex Games Centre has posted four exclusive new 800x600 Voodoo2 screenshots from ECTS showing off action from Epic's upcoming Unreal Tournament.

Gamers.de has posted an interview with Lead Programmer Markus Hadwiger on the upcoming space shooter Parsec in both English and German, as well as four new screenshots showing off the game.

On the heels off yesterday's click2send release of the Delta Force 2 trailer (story), and the release earlier today of the movie as a zip file on NovaCentral News Network (story), comes word from NovaCentral News Network that they now have the trailer as a bandwidth-friendly ~2 MB RealPlayer version.

3DFiles Game Demos - Nocturne page has a playable demo of Nocturne that looks to be from a magazine CD (if I read correctly, the October 1999 Computer Gaming World magazine with demo CDROM, on newsstands now). The demo is a whopping 107 MB, and it is noted that the "demo is 3 months away from code completion. It has been tested on Matrox G200/G400, ATI Rage 128, S3 Savage 3D, or TnT/TnT2 for 3D acceleration, but many Voodoo cards have troubles with it still, although you can run it in software mode. The faster the better, a 400 MHZ CPU is recommended for software mode."

With a DX7 buzz already a buzzing due to a recent release candidate for the MS Premium Elite, ActiveWindows has posted a report that they've received an "official" release date for DirectX 7, the next revision in the Microsoft's API, as next Friday, September 10. Thanks 3DNews.Net by way of the unstoppable Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

The UrbanChaos.Net has posted an exclusive interview with musician Martin Oliver and tester Justin Amore from Mucky Foot about M.F.'s Urban Chaos, an upcoming third-person game best described as Tomb Raider-esque. The piece includes news about gameplay, technology, and a free music sample in mp3 format from the game's soundtrack.

Kenn Hoekstra's .plan has an update on a touchy subject for some, the news that Raven will not be supporting cooperative multiplayer play in their upcoming Quake II-engine shooter, Soldier of Fortune. Here's the dope:

I've been getting a lot of e-mails and seeing a lot of message board posts lately regarding Co-Op play in Soldier of Fortune. Our decision not to support Co-Op play was a painful one to make, but unfortunately, Co-Op support was never really an option. The single-player game for SoF is laden with cinematics and character interaction and designing for Co-Op would be a nightmare to plan out and implement and it would add at least 6 months to the development cycle. Ouch... We are confident that the single-player game, team deathmatch and the plethora of multiplayer games and options will more than make up for the absence of Co-Op. I apologize to the Co-Op "die hards" out there...

The Gore Screenshots page has a pair of new shots of the player character from this upcoming first-person shooter to show off the visible weapons and armor (you can see what your opponent is wearing and carrying). In one shot he's armed to the teeth with a spike gun a helmet and light armor, and in the other, fairly unfettered with no armor, and holding but a pistol (which constitutes as heavily-armed in real life).

BetaNews has word of some "Special Purpose Drivers" for ATI RAGE 128-based graphics cards. Apparently the special purpose is not like Navin Johnson's, word on the page is "These are for those using a K6/K7 3DNow!, Pentium III SSE, or for those wanting to run Quake3 Test. They are version 6.20CDH29 for Windows 9x and NT4." I can't find a page on the ATI site, but the BetaNews folks have a direct link up.

There are scans of the FreeSpace 2 magazine ads up on The Descent Chronicles for those dying for more glimpses of this upcoming space sim (or for those whose favorite parts of the gaming mags are the ads).

Frans, who clearly is off the decaffeinated, sends word that the Delta Force 2 movie released yesterday in that obtuse digital safe deposit box dealie (story), has been posted as a normal download at the NovaCentral News Network (thanks to Matthias at The Patches Scrolls for spotting it). He says the movie is 180x120, has a 1:22 running time, and is 22 MB, but he's posted a 15 MB zipped version on 3D Action Gamers' Delta Force 2 page.

The Adrenaline Vault interviews Stevie "Killcreek" Case talking with the ION Storm level designer in a Q&A that talks briefly about her upcoming appearance in Playboy (story), progress on Daikatana, and primarily about her past, present, and future role in the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL).

As promised the other day, a new gallery section has been added to the official American McGee's Alice home page, with five pieces of concept art for you to look at, as well as another in their series of baffling riddles.

Insomniax.net has posted a hands-on preview of Freespace 2 that's based on a build the author received, complete with 22 new screenshots from this space sim.

Those zany guys at StrangeCompany have released another one of their tools for Quake II demo movie authors...it's called Lippy, and it allows for full lip-synching of characters, as well as the ability to add emotions to their faces. It sounds pretty cool, so check it out.

Planet FreeSpace interviews Philip Holt talking with the director of product development at Volition about FreeSpace 2, his background, his favorite things in FreeSpace, the best Volition pool player, where is the best place to get pizza in the Champaign area, and vital stuff like that. Saw that (along with the spiffy description) at The Descent Chronicles.

There's a BattleZone II preview on GameSpot UK with a hands-on look at this upcoming action/strategy sequel accented with several new screenshots.

Kokak's Hexen Page has a new version 0.8 of Kokak's OpenGL port of the publicly available Hexen source-code (which is based on the also publicly available Doom source). Word there is that since DoomGL shares its OpenGL engine with GLHexen (and GLHeretic), GLHexen could also support MD2 files (the 3D format used in Quake 2 for the objects) soon, just like DoomGL does. Also noted there, is that the ports on the page required Hexen 1.1, and don't work with Hexen version 1.0 or the demo version of Hexen. Thanks again Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

The Adrenaline Vault previews Nocturne looking ahead at TRI's upcoming horror-noire game calling it "a George Romero ode to Lovecraft with a deep tip of the hat to pulp fiction ethos" (that's George, not John). In addition to the look ahead at the game, there are several D3D screenshots showing off it's eye candy. And as if that weren't enough, there are Nocturne Screenshots on GA-Source showing off 15 scenes from the game.

Hexenworld, the site, has word of a "tentative" version 1.00 release of the Chronos Bot for HexenWorld, the program (the version of Hexen II enhanced with QuakeWorld-style networking). Thanks Frans at 3D Action Gamers.

The Collective, developers of the Unreal-engine title Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Fallen are looking for an UnrealScript programmer to join their ranks (thanks PlanetUnreal). Here are the details:

The Collective (http://www.collectivestudios.com) has an immediate opening for a talented UnrealScript programmer to aid in the completion of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Fallen.

Our studio is located in the sunny Californian coastal town of Laguna Beach. We offer an excellent compensation package including bonuses, royalties, 401K, and comprehensive health benefits.

Requirements:

Demonstrable, expert level, understanding of UnrealScript.
Ability to contribute innovative and original ideas towards all aspects of game production and development.
Willing to accept direction, work well under pressure, and handle multiple tasks.
Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills.
Desire to make the best game in the world.
Must be able and willing to work in Laguna Beach.

Pluses:

Knowledge and experience of C/C++.
Previous professional game development experience.

Email resume and examples of your work, in strictest confidence, to: jobs@collectivestudios.com

Thresh's FiringSquad has posted an interview with 3dfx' Scott Sellers, discussing a variety of issues with the CTO of the company. The interview is particularly timely after this past week's announcements from NVIDIA and S3 about their next-generation chipsets. Here's a quote that shines some light on what their new technology will (and won't) be capable of:

We believe full-scene AA is going to absolutely reset the image quality standard for next generation 3D accelerators. Once people see their favorite games rendered at real-time frame rates completely anti-aliased, they are never going to be able to look at aliased rendering again (regardless of how many triangles there are in a scene!). Trust us, we've been staring at anti-aliasing algorithms for quite some time now and it's miserable looking at aliased renderings now that we've become so accustomed to the amazing visual quality improvements associated with anti-aliased rendering.

And the biggest problem with the GeForce in this regard is that they are selling a future promise that games will eventually take advantage of their geometry acceleration, albeit at a substandard fillrate. The full-scene AA capability of our next generation products upgrades every single game currently available. Consumers won't have to wait 9-12 months for new games to take advantage of new graphics technology. The day a user plugs a T-Buffer enabled graphics accelerator in their system, their library of games is immediately upgraded with substantial visual quality improvements as a result of the ground breaking anti-aliasing technology.

Next-Generation Online has posted a new preview of Prince of Persia 3D, with four new screenshots, a bit of history about the title, and the rest of the usual preview text. Just a reminder - the PoP3D demo was released last weekend.

The AllGames Network has posted their coverage of the $50,000 Descent 3 tournament, and while it's not quite as entertaining as the one posted last night (story), it's still worth checking out. Hey, it was in Las Vegas. It's just gotta be entertaining.

In addition to yesterday's Nocturne screenshots and AVI, there's also some new illustrations up on Spookhouse.org, showing off the characters from the game. Hop over there and head to their "research" section to check them all out (they're very impressive).

• GamesMania reviews C&C: Tiberian Sun.
• AGN3D reviews Tiberian Sun.
• GamePen reviews Drakan.
• ActionXtreme reviews DarkStone.
• Diversions of Technology reviews Outcast.

Yesterday was one of those days that proved just how great Blue's News readers are. In case you missed it, in an effort to get me to finish up this week's contest (which went up yesterday - good luck, it's freaky hard), Blue posted my e-mail address along with an invitation for people to send (cough) letters of encouragement. Now I was expecting a deluge of flames, nags, death threats, and the usual bag of disgruntled mail...but you know what? It didn't happen. Sure, I got a few, but not nearly anything that would qualify as a mail bomb. You guys rule.

Link of the Day: Being Stephen King. A place where Stephen Kings all over the world can go to complain about how they get mistaken for the best-selling horror novelist.